Daughter Looks for Answers 50 Years After Park Slope Murder

"At the time, crime in New York City was rampant. According to NYC's summary of vital statistics, there were 1,662 homicides in the city that year, with 459 murders in Brooklyn, and Park Slope was a far cry from the gentrified neighborhood with million-dollar brownstones it is now, particularly along 4th and 5th avenues."

"As Thomas was walking down President Street, approaching the corner of 4th Avenue, he was approached by a still-unknown assailant and killed with a close-range, single shot to his head outside the gritty bathhouse at around 5:20 p.m. Homicide detectives later told the family that a young person had found Thomas's body lying in the snow, and alerted a store owner, who called 911."

"Detectives didn't find any signs of a robbery, and the murder weapon was never recovered. Because of the heavy snowfall, it was difficult to collect forensic evidence, not even footprints, the detectives told the family."

On March 9, 1976, during an intense snowstorm, 48-year-old Thomas McAvoy was shot and killed outside a former public bathhouse on the corner of President Street and 4th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. McAvoy was heading to a drafting class in downtown Manhattan when he was approached by an unknown assailant and shot at close range in the head around 5:20 p.m. A young person discovered his body in the snow and alerted a store owner, who called 911. Homicide detectives found no signs of robbery and never recovered the murder weapon. The heavy snowfall prevented collection of forensic evidence, including footprints. Fifty years later, McAvoy's daughter, Jo Ann McAvoy-Delahunt, remains the only surviving family member from that time and continues seeking answers about her father's unsolved murder.

Read at Brownstoner